Early Morphological Development
[Pages:5]Early Morphological Development
Morphology is the aspect of language concerned with the rules governing change in word meaning. Morphological development is analyzed by computing a child's Mean Length of Utterance (MLU). Usually, a sample of 50 to 100 utterances is analyzed to draw conclusions about the child's overall production. Each word a child produces is broken down into morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest, indivisible unit of meaning. For example, the word "walk" is one morpheme, while "walked" is two morphemes: "Walk" carries its own meaning and "ed" signifies past tense. Young children often combine words to convey one meaning or idea. Consequently, words such as "gonna" count as one morpheme. As adults, we understand that "gonna" really consists of both "going" and "to", each having meaning. After counting the morphemes for each of the child's utterances, they are totaled and divided by the total number of utterances. The formula is as follows:
MLU= Total number of morphemes Total number of utterances
A child's MLU typically corresponds closely to their age. Roger Brown described five stages of language development based on MLU. The following table outlines typical MLU development:
Stage
MLU
I
1.0-2.0
II
2.0-2.5
III
2.5-3.0
IV
3.0-3.75
V
3.75-4.5
V+
4.5+
Source: Compiled form Brown (1973)
Approximate Age (In Months) 12-26 27-30 31-34 35-40 41-46 47+
Morphological acquisition is best outlined by Brown's Fourteen Grammatical Morphemes. The chart below details at what age each morpheme typically emerges.
Morpheme
Present Progressive ? ing In On Regular plural -s
Irregular past Possessive `s
Uncontractible copula (Verb to be as main verb) Articles Regular past -ed
Regular third person -s
Irregular third person Uncontractible auxiliary
Contractible copula
Contractible auxiliary
Example
Mommy driving Ball in cup Doggie on sofa Kitties eat my ice cream. Forms: /s/, /z/ and /iz/ Cats, Dogs, Classes, Wishes Came, fell, broke, sat, went Mommy's balloon broke Forms: /s/, /s/ and /iz/ as in regular plural He is. (Response to "Who is sick?) I see a kitty. Mommy pulled the wagon Forms: /d/, /t/, /Id/ Pulled, Walked, Glided Kathy hits Forms: /s/, /z/, and /iz/ Does, has He is. (Response to "Who is wearing your hat?") Man's big Man is big Daddy's eating Daddy is eating
Age of Mastery* (In Months) 19-28 27-30 27-33 27-33
25-46 26-40
28-46
28-46 26-48
28-50
28-50 29-48
29-49
30-50
*Used correctly 90% of the time in obligatory contexts. Adapted from Bellugi & Brown (1964); R. Brown (1973); and J. Miller (1981).
Sentence forms begin to develop as early as 12 months of age. Sentences can take on several different forms, including declarative, negative, interrogative, embedded and conjoined. The following table details the development of each:
Stage Early I (MLU: 11.5)
Late I (MLU: 1.52) Early II (MLU: 22.25) Late II (MLU:2.252.5)
Early III (MLU:2.52.75)
Late III (MLU:2.753)
Age (In Months) 12-22
22-26 27-28 28-30
31-32
33-34
Declarative
Agent + Action;
Action+ object
Subj. + Verb + Obj.
Subj. + Copula + Compl.
Basic subjectverb-object used by most children
Subj. + aux. + verb + objet. Appears; auxiliary verb forms can, do have will and be appear
Auxiliary verb appears with copula in subj. + aux. + copula + X
Negative Single word-no, all gone, gone
No and Not used interchangeably
No, not, don't, and can't used interchangeably; negative element placed between subject and predicate.
Won't appears
Interrogative
Yes/no questions asked with rising intonation on a single word; what and where What doing?
Where going?
Earliest inversion appears with copula in what/where + copula +subj
Auxiliary verbs do, can and will begin to appear n questions; inversion of subject and aux. verbs appears in yes/no questions Aux. Verbs do, can, and will appear in questions
Embedding
Prepositions in and on appear Gonna, wanna, gotta etc. appear
Conjoining Serial naming without and
And appears
But, so, or and if appear
Stage Early IV (MLU:33.5)
Late IV (MLU: 33.75
V (MLU:3.754.5)
Post V (MLU:4.5+)
Age (In Months) 35-37
38-40
41-46
47+
Declarative
Double auxiliary verbs appear in subj. + aux. + aux.+ verb + X Indirect object appears in subj. + aux. + verb + ind. obj. + obj.
Negative
Negative appears with auxiliary verbs
Adds isn't, aren't doesn't and didn't
Adds wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't, and shouldn't
Adds indefinite forms nobody, no one, none and nothing. Has difficulty with double negatives.
Interrogative
Inversion of auxiliary verb and subject in wh- questions
Inversion of copula and subject in yes/no questions; adds when and how Some adult like tag questions appear
Questions other that one-word why questions appear.
Embedding
Object nounphrase complements appear with verbs such as think, guess and show; embedded whquestions Infinitive phrases appear at the ends of sentences
Relative Clauses appear
Gerunds appear. Relative clauses attached to subject, embedding and conjoining appear within the same sentence above an MLU of 5.0
Conjoining
Clausal conjoining with and appears, because appears
Clausal Conjoining with if appears; three clause declaratives appear Clausal conjoining with because appears with when, but and so beyond an MLU of 5.0
By age five, a child is able to use most of the major variations of the English language. The order that these varieties are acquired indicates a pattern of cognitive, social and learning growth. Language continues to develop into early adulthood to include more sophisticated usage. For more on language development, consult the following resources:
Adrian , A. (Ed.). (1995). Lingistics: an introduction to language and communication. 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Owens, R. (2001). Language development: an introduction. 5th ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Center for Speech and Language Pathology
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- toddlers 18 36 months
- developmental milestones chart
- pre school 3 6 years old
- using normal developmental milestones with very young
- 0 3 month milestones checklist
- milestones of child development virginia
- physical activity and play for toddlers
- your baby at 2 months
- and the early years learning framework and the national
- early morphological development
Related searches
- early childhood development stages
- early child development certificate online
- early childhood development training courses
- early childhood development conference
- online early childhood development courses
- early child development classes online
- early childhood development conference 2019
- early childhood development research topics
- why is early childhood development important
- early childhood development essay
- early childhood development research articles
- early childhood development certification